Creacore by Muscletech

Today I will be review Muscletech's latest and greatest in creatine, Creacore. For starters, this is a Creatine HCL prodcut which is much more concentrated than your regular creatine monohydrate which is prevelant when you see that this little tub has 80 servings in it. You read that right 80. When you look at the label though you see that its recommended to take two servings at a time so you're really getting 40 servings per tub which still isn't bad but for a creatine product, at $38 for 40 servings, its definitely on the pricier side.
Now ignoring the price lets look at taste. This is by far one of if not the worst tasting supplements that I have ever taken. The first few times taking it, you're going to probably cringe and gag a lot but eventually you just get used to plugging your nose and chugging.
Now onto effectiveness. Despite the price and the god-awful taste, this is by far one of the best creatine products that I have ever gotten my hands on. I took the recommended 2 scoops right when I got back from the gym and that's it, just that simple. The gains that I saw from this are only comparable to when I first started taking creatine. There was a significant increase in everything for me; size, strength, muscle definition, endurance, I mean everything. Personally, the awful taste and the higher price were well worth every penny that I spent and every dry-heave that occurred. THIS STUFF REALLY WORKS GREAT!! There is no other way to put it.

In conclusion:
Taste: 2/10
Price: 7/10
Effectiveness: 10/10

BCAA's

Today is going to be a little bit different in that, instead of reviewing a specific brand of branch chain amino acids I'm going to do more of an overview of BCAA's in general such as what you need to look for and when you should take them. 

First off, the purpose of BCAA's are anabolic as well as anti-catabolic (means that they help you build muscle and prevent them from breaking down). There are four main BCAA's that you should make sure are in whichever product you buy and they are: Valine, Leucine, Iso-leucine, and Glutamine. The reason you want all of these is because Valine, Leucine, and Iso-leucine are all closely related so they work well together and Glutamine by itself has been proven to help with muscle recovery.

Now onto when to take them. Valine, Leucine and Iso-leucine have been shown that, when taken pre-workout and intra-workout, delay fatigue and increase performance. Glutamine should be taken with your protein shake post-workout because its purpose is to resynthesize carbohydrates, help your muscles recover quickly after strenuous workouts, and raise growth hormone levels. Another reason you should take your Valine, Leucine, and Iso-leucine pre/intra-workout instead of post-workout is because if you take a good quality protein powder, it should already be packed with these three amino acids and if you add more to whatever is already in the protein, it's just going to be a waste since your body won't be able to process that much at one time.

In conclusion,

What do BCAA's do?

BCAA's taken pre-workout and intra-workout can help stave off fatigue and  help your muscles heal faster after strenuous workout as well as raise growth hormone levels (particularly with glutamine)

Are BCAA's worth the extra money? 

Yes

When should you take them? 

Take Valine, Leucine, and Iso-leucine either pre-workout or intra-workout and take glutamine post workout and before bed since it will raise your growth hormone levels (which are highest when you sleep).

Oxyelite Pro Review

Today's review is about something that is concerning many people around this time of year and that is weight loss. First off, let me just say that there is no such thing as a "magical weight loss pill". There is no product that if you take it will give you that flat stomach or ripped six-pack by sitting around all day eating junk food. It's just not possible. USPlabs' OxyElite pro though is the closest that you can get to this magical pill.
I've taken this product in 2 separate cycles and couldn't be happier with the results I got. The first time I took I managed to drop about 30 lbs in 2 and a half months without changing anything about my cutting phase diet or exercise. The second lime I took it I was on a much higher intake diet so I only dropped about 10 lbs in 2 months but I lost the weight straight from my stomach and obliques and it made a very noticeable change in my cuts.
Another HUGE benefit about this product in my opinion is how convenient and easy it is to take. All you have to do is take one pill in the morning for the first 3 days and then 2 pills in the morning everyday after that. This is much more convenient than something like a Hyrdoxycut where you have to take I believe three pills before every meal.
Finally, I know a big factor to a lot of people is the price of the product and let me just say that it is worth every penny. I recommend buying it online where you can normally find it for between $30- $35 or if you want it right away, just go to your local Vitamin Shoppe and you can get it for about $40-$45.
Honestly there is not a bad thing I could say about this product and I'm definitely going to try it for a 3rd time during my cutting phase this year.

In conclusion:
Effectiveness: 10/10
Price: 9/10 (depending on where you get it)
Energy: 8.5/10

Workout

First off let me just say that this is the workout that works best for me. Everyone is different and everyone has different goals. I found this workout to be the most effective for what  I'm trying to do which is gain size and cuts. Enjoy.

Day One- Arms

Single arm dumbbell curls: 4 sets of 25

Barbell curls: 6 sets of 8

Barbell eccentric explosion curls (slowly let down): 6 sets of 10

Tricep rope pushdown: 4 sets of 25

Dumbell skull crushers: 6 sets of 8

Straight bar pushdown: 6 sets of 10

Day Two- Chest

Flat bench press: 4 sets of 8-12

Incline bench press: 4 sets of 8-12

Decline bench press: 4 sets of 8-12

Incline chest fly: 3 sets of 8-12

Dips: 3 sets of 8-12

Day Three- Back

Dead lift: 1 warm-up set of 10 reps, 4 working sets of 10 reps

Behind the neck pull-up: 1 set to failure

One-Arm pull-up: 1 set to failure

Close-grip pull-up: 1 set to failure

Standard pull-up: 1 set to failure

Bent over row: 3 sets to failure

One-arm dumbbell row: 4 sets of 10

Lat pull-down: 3 sets of 10 reps, 1 set to failure

Low row: 4 sets of 10

Day Four-Shoulders

Lateral raises: 4 sets of 8-12

Dumbbell shoulder press: 4 sets of 8-12

Reverse fly: 4 sets of 8-12

Dumbbell Shrugs: 4 sets of 8-12

Machine shoulder press: 4 sets of 8-12

Day Five- Legs

5 minute warm up walk

20 minute jog

5 minute cool down

Leg extensions: 4 sets of 8-12

Hamstring curls: 4 sets of 8-12

Calf raises: 4 sets of 20

Leg press: 4 sets of 8-12

MRI Black Powder Review

Today's pre-workout review is going to be on MRI's Black Powder.
I found this to be very similar to N.O. Xplode/ N.O. Xplode 2.0 in the sense that it was a very "fizzy" pre-workout which I personally don't enjoy and I felt bloated after taking it (doing cardio after taking this is a death sentence for your stomach). Also, the pump I got from this wasn't really anything special. It was definitely noticeable but it paled in comparison to what you could get from something like Jack3d or Assualt.  Price wise if you buy this is bulk (which is normally cheaper) you can get a 3 lb tub (labeled as 68 servings) for about $70 for a grand total of $1.03 per serving which is pretty pricey for a pre-workout.
On the positive side, it mixes surprisingly well and it tastes like a blue raspberry soda. Also, if you do increase the dosage, the "all-right" pump you get turns into a pretty fantastic one. But obviously by doing that, your going to go through your servings much faster which is going to eat away at your wallet. Finally, for those of you that don't like the "skin tingles" associated with beta-alanine which is a common component of most pre-workouts, Black Powder actually has no beta-alanine so no need to worry about that.

In conclusion:
Effectiveness/Pump: 7/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Price: 7/10

Musclepharm Assault Review

Honestly, out of all the pre-workouts I've tried, Musclepharm's Assault is probably my favorite with respect to the pump I get and how good it tastes. I have yet to find another pre-workout that mixes as easily, tastes as good, and gives me the ability to crush plateaus like Assault. That being said, the only thing that I dislike about this product is how expensive it is. At $35 for only 32 servings that's a  whopping  $1.09 per serving. Furthermore, a serving is only half a scoop and on the tub it even says for "HARDCORE TRAINING SESSIONS" to use a full scoop which then cuts total servings down to only 16 and your price per serving then sky-rockets to $2.18, which (as good as this product is) isn't worth it.
As for the ingredient profile, there's the usual Beta-alanine, L-arginine, Taurine, Caffeine, etc. What caught my eye was that per serving you get 5 g of Creatine and 6 g of BCAA's which can be good or bad depending on your preferences. If you already take Creatine and BCAA's with your post-workout, this might not be for you since taking so much of these will just cause your body to evacuate the excess since there's no one it can absorb so much. In contrast, everyone knows that Creatine and BCAA's are the building blocks for building muscle, so if your intake is lacking in either department, it would be a good idea to find a way to work those into your diet which this will help you with.

In conclusion:
Effectiveness/Pump: 9.5/10
Taste: 9/10
Price: 5/10

N.O. Xplode/N.O. Xplode 2.0 review

The reason why I am reviewing N.O-Xplode and N.O.-Xplode 2.0 in one-hit is because honestly I never noticed the difference between the two of them. Apparently the difference between the original and the 2.0 versionis that the 2.0 had possibly more beta-alanine and stimulants (which stimulants though is unclear because the ingredient profile is listed under "proprietary blend" so the exact amounts of the ingredients are unknown). Anyway, down to the review.
I tried the Blue Raspberry flavors of both versions and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted for being such a "fizzy" pre-workout...until I got to the bottom of the shaker where I was then attacked by clumps of powdered energy. By the time you mix it enough to get all the clumps out, your arm is going to be so tired you won't have to workout anymore.
Normally you can get a 50 serving tub for about $35 which seems pretty good since that's about $0.70 a serving, but if you are able to get 50 servings out of one tub it's a miracle. I don't know if I have a high tolerance for whatever stimulants they used but by the end of the tub I found myself having to use about 3 servings to get the pump and energy I felt the first few times I used it.
The one positive thing I will say about this product is that when I did get a pump from it, nothing can even compare to it. Unfortunately, in order to get that pump you had to ingest God only knows how much caffeine and beta-alanine and whatever else is in the "proprietary blend".

In conclusion:
Effectiveness/Pump: 6/10 (normal serving) 9/10 (adjusted serving)
Taste: 6/10
Price: 6/10